The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Lonicera caerulea ssp. emphyllocalyx and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Kawai’. ‘Kawai’ is a new cultivar of Japanese blue honeysuckle berry, also known as Japanese haskap, a plant grown for its fruit that is marketed as fresh fruit, frozen fruit and quality processed food products.
The new Invention arose from an ongoing controlled breeding program in Corvallis, Oreg. that commenced with the planting of seeds collected in 2000 from several berry farms in Hokkaido, Japan. The objectives of the breeding program are to develop superior cultivars of this early ripening berry plant that could be grown in moderate to colder climates combined with an upright spreading plant habit and fruit that were large in size, firm, easy to pick, good tasting, with a high yield rate and a harvest season that exhibits a range of fruit maturity.
This new Japanese haskap cultivar, ‘Kawai’, arose from a cross made from unnamed and unpatented Japanese haskap plants from the Inventor's breeding program in 2006 with the female parent designated as seedling No. 21-78 and the male parent designated as seedling No. 41-75. ‘Kawai’ was selected in Corvallis, Oreg. as a single unique plant, designated as seedling No. 108-42 in 2009 from the population of resulting seedlings from the above cross.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by the Inventor by hardwood stem cuttings in 2009 in Corvallis, Oreg. Asexual propagation by hardwood and softwood cuttings has determined that the characteristics of the new cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.